An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), sometimes called an unmanned air-reconnaissance vehicle, is a non-piloted aircraft. UAVs are known in the art and can be operated via remote control or fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems. UAVs are currently used in a number of military roles, including reconnaissance and attack. They are also used in a small but growing number of civil applications such as firefighting where a human observer would be at risk, police observation of civil disturbances and scenes of crimes, and reconnaissance support in natural disasters. Accordingly, UAVs are often preferred for missions where the risk to human life is mitigated. There are a wide variety of UAV shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. For the purposes description and to distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as an aircraft capable of being controlled, sustained level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating engine. Cruise missiles are not classed as UAVs, because, like many other guided missiles, the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused even though it is also unmanned and might in some cases be remotely guided.
UAVs typically fall into one of six functional categories, although multi-role airframe platforms are becoming more prevalent. Such categories include: target and decoy to provide ground and aerial gunnery to a target that simulates an enemy aircraft or missile, reconnaissance to provide battlefield intelligence, combat to provide attack capability for high-risk missions, logistics for UAVs specifically designed for cargo and logistics operation, research and development used to further develop UAV technologies to be integrated into field deployed UAV aircraft, and civil and commercial UAVs for UAVs specifically designed for civil and commercial applications. In one embodiment, UAVs can also be categorized in terms of range and/or altitude.